A Name Pronounceable in Nearly Every Language

In a world of two-syllable Internet company names, Alibaba stands out.

Ali Baba was the main character in “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves,” a folk tale about a poor woodcutter who discovers the secret to entering the thieves’ den.

The name, according to the Alibaba’s website, appealed to Jack Ma, the company’s founder, because it could be pronounced by people who speak most any language. “E-commerce is global, so we needed a name that was globally recognized,” the website says.

The company’s initial goal was to provide an online platform for small businesses. And the tale of Ali Baba, the website says, “brings to mind ‘open sesame,’ representing that our platforms open a doorway to fortune for small businesses.”

Alibaba declined to comment further on Tuesday.

In an interview on a company forum, Mr. Ma tells of the day he came up with the name. He said he was sitting in a coffee shop in San Francisco and thought of the name Alibaba and decided it would be a good one for his company. He said he asked a waitress whether she recognized the name and she said yes.

“Then I went onto the street and found 30 people and asked them, ‘Do you know Alilbaba?’ People from India, people from Germany, people from Tokyo and China,” he said,. “They all knew about Alibaba. Alibaba — open sesame. Alibaba — 40 thieves.”

He added: “Nothing is more powerful than taking a word with a strong, specific connotation, grabbing a slice of it, mapping that slice to a portion of your positioning, and therefore redefining it. This naming strategy is without question the most powerful one of all.”

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